Lets make the SEND world, everyone's world
Making SEND a better place. For everyone.
Welcome to Trafford Parents Forum
We are so glad you have found us here in the world of SEND in Trafford! We support and work with parent carers and families of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) with or without a diagnosis across all areas of disability across Trafford.
Trafford Parents Forum is currently the Department for Education (DfE) funded parent carer forum in Trafford, established as an independent parent carer led forum in 2013 and became a limited company by guarantee, not for profit in 2014. We are led by a strong team of 10 with 8 of us being parent carers ourselves and at various stages of the SEND journey in Trafford as we believe that such 'lived experience' is invaluable to other parent carers.
We hope our families are managing the change in season and can look forward to spending time with family and/or friends over the holiday period that is quickly approaching. Our thoughts here at Trafford Parents Forum focus on our most vulnerable families, that find this time of year difficult for a variety of reasons.
Last year we identified a small number of families within Trafford SEND community that had reached out for support. As a small token of recognition for the difficulties their families were facing, we provided food and gift hampers to offer our continued commitment and support during the holiday season.
This year we would like Trafford SEND community to help us identify these families, either by nominating themselves or nominating a family that would benefit from this type of support.
As many of our parent carers are aware, we are not commissioned by the Local Authority, so we rely on the kindness of local businesses, supermarkets and sponsors, as well as applying for a variety of funding pots to enable us to expand the offer we had last year and reach more families.
We would gratefully accept any donations from you, our parent carers, who may be able to offer any of the following;
- non-perishable food and treats (e.g. tinned and packet foods, selection boxes, chocolates, crisps, crackers and other savoury snacks), non-alcoholic festive drinks and toiletries;
- small gifts for (i) babies and toddlers (ii) 2-5 years (iii) 5-8 years (iv) 9-12 years, (v) 13-16 years (teenagers) and (vi) 16+ years;
- gift vouchers from high street shops;
- donations from your place of work;
- purchased items from Amazon wish list https://www.amazon.co.uk/registries/gl/guest-view/2WSO5GYIOP8LL
We appreciate every single gesture of support, whether it be ‘time’ in creating or delivering the hampers to our parent carers or a donation as listed above.
Items can be donated either to the TPF Office or to the Tuesday drop in at St Matthews between 10am and 12pm, we will need donations by no later than Tuesday 3rd December 2024 please. Thank you so much.
A huge thank you to all those parent carers (and families) who have already contributed through one of the following:
- Signing up for Easyfundraising as this has provided a cash payment directly to the Forum
- Took part in the TESCO book donation – Providing nearly £300 cheque payable to the Forum
- Tropic skincare – donated 10% of sales to TPF and are offering the same at our Evening session in December
- Taken part in the I SEE Project – highlighting parent carer need and raising the TPF profile
- Offered their time in mentor and volunteer capacity
- Completed feedback so we can make further applications for funding and evidence parent carer need
- Interacted with our website and social media platforms
- Attended our drop-in and training events, peer support, virtual and face to face sessions
- It all adds up and makes a huge difference to our families.
If you would like to nominate your own family, or another Trafford SEND family, please complete the form here https://forms.office.com/e/V7A8SrQCXv by 12pm Monday 2nd December 2024. Depending on level of demand for this, we may not be able to offer a Christmas Hamper/gift to all families nominated, but we will do our best to reach and support as many Trafford SEND families as we can and guarantee that all items donated will be gifted to somebody.
If you have any questions about this or would like to see how you can support us in this project, please make contact at [email protected].
The last half term has been a busy one!
We have seen STEP’s Wellbeing session; the Preparing for Adulthood day and evening sessions. Drop In’s have been very busy with Trafford’s Occupational Therapists; SENDIASS; and Mark Coates: Children's Clinical Commissioning Support Officer and many more...
Do you use our social media platforms? Please can you like and share our posts so we can keep our posts in your feed.
The Trafford Parents Forum Team
Mental Health
If you need us at TPF, please don't hesitate to contact us but also know that Trafford Council has their own support page with lots of help and links where you can get support.
You can also find help and support at here at the Place2Be the children’s mental health charity. They have a wealth of experience in supporting and promoting mental health services for our children and young people.
During holiday periods for urgent support, please contact Trafford Children’s First Response on 0161 912 5125 during office hours Mon-Fri 8.30-4.30pm or 0161 912 2020 out of hours – Emergency Duty Team.
Trafford Directory and the Local Offer
If you need any general help, Trafford Directory offers free, impartial advice and guidance service connecting Trafford families, young people and caregivers with local support services. Under this service, you will find the SEND Local Offer– if you haven’t visited yet, it’s a tool to keep always as it’s Trafford offer of support for families with children with SEND.
The TPF Team
Join us on the 21st of November for Carers Rights Day, where we will be at Stretford Public Hall with Trafford Carers Centre from 12pm-7pm which aims to raise awareness about unpaid Carers. Our objective is to help identify carers and signpost them towards the support they need.
There will be stalls from different organisations offering support, massage therapies, free hot food, Q&A from Trafford’s Councillors, commissioners and GPs family entertainment and so much more.
Whether someone is a new Carer, has been caring without support for some time, or has been providing care for many years, it is essential that they know their rights and can access the necessary support they need.
Fancy coming along?
EASYFUNDRAISING
Another way to how you can you help shape the Forum
We have now registered with a great website called easyfundraising to help raise money for Trafford Parents Forum Limited - simply by shopping online.
easyfundraising turns your everyday online shopping into FREE donations when you use them to shop with over 7,000 brands such as eBay, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, ASOS and Booking.com.
Brands then make a small donation to say ‘thank you’ and easyfundraising gives those free funds to the cause.
Please register using the QR Code.
Plus, once you've raised your first £5, easyfundraising will double it!
There’s no catch or hidden charges and we will be really grateful for your donations.
Thank you
The TPF Team
Our Vision
Our vision is to work together with the local authority, key stakeholders and other local community organisations across Trafford and Greater Manchester to share best practice and promote positive collaboration to deliver effective engagement and participation with parent carers. By increasing participation of parent carers 'lived experiences' across Trafford we aim to help improve services and outcomes for our SEND children and young people and their families.
Our Mission
Our mission is to support, empower and inform parent carers and families of children and young people with SEND so they can develop their skills and knowledge to become the best advocate for their children and young people. To help and enable our parent carers and families achieve this we mentor, support and provide information and training to develop and build their confidence and resilience.
